Music: Effects on students’ achievement, habits of mind, and disposition as bases for the development of music-enhanced mathematics program

Abstract

Mathematics is a skill subject that requires skills and practice. Often mathematics lacks creative or artistic flair; hence, students find it difficult and boring. Students do not pay attention in class. This study ascertained the effects of background music on students’ achievement, habits of mind, test anxiety, and disposition. The respondents are composed of 72 junior high school students from three treatment groups: urban music group, popular music group, and alternative rock music group. The instruments used were the researcher-made mathematics achievement test, Test Anxiety Rating Scale, and Disposition Rating Scale which undergone validation through a panel of experts. The result shows that the pretest mean scores in mathematics achievement of all the three groups were “low.” Using music as intervention, the scores of the post-test were “high” among group urban music group and alternative rock music group while “average” among the popular music group. The pretest mean scores in habits of mind of the three groups were “not developed”, as revealed in the pretest and became “strongly developed” among the groups introduced to popular music and alternative rock music while the group to urban music was “satisfactorily developed” in the posttest. The pre-test mean scores in disposition among groups introduced to urban music and which were to “liked” in the post-test. As observed, all the background music used had an impact on the improvement of the students’ scores in mathematics. The results of the study served as bases for the development of music-enhanced mathematics program.